Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, Acts 4:12.
My wife and I hope that our Blog may be used as a tool to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. We desire to minister His message of salvation to anyone who is willing to hear us. We believe His free gift of salvation is available to all, and we invite whosoever will to come and take freely of the water of life, Revelation 22:17.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

ECKANKAR

I was in a local coffee shop the other day when I happened
upon a brochure asking “when your child asks you about God, how will answer
them?” This brochure belonged to a small but growing cult known as ECKANKAR,
which is supposed to mean “co-worker with God,” but may intentionally be a
perversion of “Ek Onkar” the name of the supreme deity of Shabda Yoga.

ECKANKAR, or ECK for short, was founded in 1965 by a
journalist and occultist named Paul Twitchell. He claimed to have visited India
and the Himalayas where he was made the 971st living ECK master, a mahatma, or living
manifestation of God. There was never any verification that Twitchell ever
traveled to these places, or that he met the people he claimed to have met
while there who supposedly conferred on him his title. On September 17 1971 he
died of a heart attack. His successor, who took the mantle of leadership from
Twitchell (conveniently in the spirit world after his sudden death) was Sri
Darwin Gross.

Doctrinally, ECKANKAR teaches of a detached god, “unconcerned
about any being in the universe. He is detached and unconcerned about man.”
This is from Twitchell’s book “ECKANKAR-
The Key to Secret Worlds.” His successor says much the same when he stated, “Many
are teaching the masses to love everyone, to love their neighbors, and that’s fine,
if it’s with a detached love. You have to be very careful who you give love to.”
This uncaring god can be reached via astral projection, which Twitchell first
named “bilocation” and later termed “soul-travel.” According to their founder
this technique is necessary to achieve “omniscience…through the release of the
soul from the bondage of the flesh.” Astral projection is pure occultism, and
would certainly leave one highly susceptible to demonic intrusion either by way
of communication with these beings, or possession as one attempts to vacate their
body, leaving an open door for something else to occupy it.

The God of the Bible (God the Father) is known as Kal, an
ECK term for Satan. Jesus is “a son of Kal, King of the lower worlds.”
Twitchell would have to denounce both the Father and Son, since he claimed to
be a living embodiment of deity, and Jesus claimed exclusivity in this regard.
Biblically, this teaching falls under John’s imprecation when he warns us that
those who deny the Father and the Son are inspired by the very spirit of
Antichrist, 1st John 2:22, etc.

“Salvation” in ECKANKAR is the result of soul-travel
through ascending levels of enlightenment as an ECK master helps the disciple
to purge karmic debt from prior lives. Much of ECKANKAR is merely repackaged
Hinduism. Original sin, Jesus’ atonement and unique deity, and every cardinal
Christian doctrine is essentially rejected. Rather, astral projection will free
the disciple from fleshly bondage to ascend to Sugmad (the name of their god)
who, even according to their founder, isn’t interested in their arrival anyway.
While perhaps well meaning and sincerely deceived in many cases, ECKANKAR and
its founder fall under Jesus’ warning of thieves and robbers who climb up “another
way” (John 10:8); likewise we are warned of the massive deception that will
occur when false christs and prophets claim authority that belongs solely to
God, Matthew 24:11, 24.

I wanted to share a little knowledge about this group
with anyone who comes across this and might be enticed to join with them, or
for fellow Christians who know nothing at all about ECKANKAR and their beliefs.
I pray that God may use this to enlighten whom He may.

The problem with your review of Eckankar is that is is not factual. There are a huge number of inaccurate statements about the path, too many to review here.

Unfortunately I am not sure that a discussion of Eckankar would get a fair hearing in this blog based on your above comments. Not having followed Eckankar or practiced it, I'm not sure how you are able to make the judgements about it that you do. It would seem more appropriate to ask questions of a member, and then make your own judgments as to whether it is a cult, repackaged Hinduism, focuses on astral projection, etc.

Eck, another word for spirit(the Holy Ghost), is part of Christianity, as is love for your fellow man, so though we may differ in various doctrinal issues, the core of Eckankar - service, sacrifice and love are tenets we both share.

If the views of your path's founder are amazingly inaccurate, then ECKANKAR is not what Paul Twitchell originally envisioned. My statements come from various reports of dialogue with ECK members. Christianity is not service, sacrifice and love. It is a personal relationship with a Redeemer God who atoned for our sins on the cross, paying the penalty of death we deserved so we can be reconciled to Him and have eternal life as a reborn child of God. Service and love are the outflow of salvation's reception; not a means to attain some goal or prize.I have stated the foundation of ECK beliefs which grossly conflict with Christianity; until you can produce statements from your founder (who would be ECK's authority) that contradict, perhaps you might want to look into what ECKANKAR truly teaches at its core.

This is one of the many reasons I don't care for this form of evangelism from any group, but especially Christianity. When one person is being handed so many different brands of "Christianity", how could a person searching find the true Christian statement. I realize God reveals himself to those truly searching, but it's so sad to me how many "baby Christians", prior to becoming well versed in the scriptures, are lead astray by different cult leaders because they are most susceptible. Then they are tricked into a life of service or "works" or much much worse things to "gain admittance to Heaven" and are missing out on the true blessings of a life that is filled with grace and the Holy Spirit. Not to mention a God who wants a personal relationship with you, someone who honestly cares about your day to day struggles and loves you.

Thank you kindly for your comment, Shannon. We should never sacrifice our relationship with the Lord, which each one of us may have directly, for any earthly mediator; be it church, leader or otherwise. I'm glad to hear you're walking strong.